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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 6, 2006 23:39:57 GMT -5
A bunch of us have been busy at Moby's Cave by Manitou Springs, Colorado. The cave was originally found ridgewalking about 15 years ago in below zero weather by its steam plume. We dug down 10 feet into a void in breakdown then lost interest to pursue other digs. Rechecking it last year a couple of our guys Mike Frazier and Rob Watson found a 30 x 30 x 8 foot room. A crew dug into the room from the outside but found some massive breakdown blocks keeping us from lowering the grade to use a wheelbarrow for the logistics it required. Photo Copyright © 2001 - Huddersfield Geology GroupVarious techniques were tried without success so the specialists had to be called in. Chas Lindsey backpacked his generator up and I did the drill, feathers and wedges and such. We found about a 7 ton boulder once we dug it out completely. Having determined the "grain" or general direction of the fractures, we drilled 5/8" holes four inches deep at generally four in a row parrallel to the grain. We drilled with water as the bits stay sharper longer. Having inserted two shims or "feathers" in the holes so the will apply pressure crosswise to the direction of the line of holes, we then placed the wedges ("Plugs") between them. Alternately tapping them to to keep the pressure even (you can listen to them to determine that they are loading evenly) in an anticlimactic fashion a fracture simply appears. We then drove pointed chisels called "moils" into the crack to open it to retrieve our hardware before it would get lost down in it. Once those had it open wide enough we used a long wrecking bar to pry it apart. Photo Copyright © 2001 - Huddersfield Geology GroupHaving split through the 3 1/2 foot thick by 4 foot wide boulder we had a neat 1 foot thick slice we could break up with a 16 pound hammer. We repeated the feather and wedge method four times and removed the pieces. This took us two days mostly because of the time it took us to dig it out from the rubbley dirt it was in. Then I came up with my son Gordy who works in a mine, (THE DIGGULATOR!) with a wheelbarrow and, dealing with several large rocks (but not as big as the rock Chas and I dealt with,) dug in from the outside on grade for the wheelbarrow. We were at it about four days. Finally, after the Williams Canyon Project meeting, a crew of about six broke up the last large rock and finished the wheelbarrow access in. Thar she blows! What little local digs is anybody else doing?
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L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on Oct 9, 2006 13:01:13 GMT -5
Thanks for the digging trip report Jon ! I would also like to see more cavers post digging, ridgewalking and caving trip reports! We have (ummm had) a dig that is still unfinished and so needless to say the cave is not mapped or surveyed yet. Ok so yes fellow cavers can now shame us if you want - just say.......BAD CAVERS! Looks like we should get it in gear and complete that cave, eah?
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Post by madratdan on Oct 12, 2006 8:43:29 GMT -5
Hey..........wait a minute.........that's my dig your digging on, Jon!!!
Oh yea, I forgot.
There are four other people leading this dig besides me, ....huh.
That's the beauty of the Williams Canyon Project. Any one can come and play. I watched as Chas did his thing with the drill and wedges. After which, other methods of breaking up the rock and moving it out, come into play. Get the pieces small enough, then take a sledge hammer and bust them up some more. Once you can physically roll the rock over and attack it from several angles, they turn to rubble before you know it. Especially with Jon or Fred at the controls of the big hammer. (Thor)
Great pictures Jon........ Thanks for sharing......I need to get one of those camera thingies.
Anyone can come play......... Sunday morning at the Cave of the Winds gift shop around 9:00am. Come join the fun and learn to split rocks with the professionals.
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 12, 2006 19:19:42 GMT -5
The hammer Dan mentions (Thor!) is discreetly off to the side in the second picture. It has a 16 pound head and a short handle to make it easier to swing in tight places.
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 15, 2006 21:27:34 GMT -5
All my buddies were off at Fort Stanton or another cave over by Dotsero so it was just Fred Luizer, my son Gordy, and myself at Moby's. We carried heavy timbers up for stulls and lagging to provide protection in an unstable place we were digging at. I took an 8 foot scaling bar and brought down the loose stuff then we put in two 6x6 stulls across the open area and then covered them with lagging (planks.) Having this necessary chore behind us we indulged in digging in after ever blowing air that keeps teasing us on. We have wheelbarrow passage all the way to the face so a lot can be done by three people. Gordy pushing a load out our deluxe entrance at Moby'sAt the end of the day Gordy came across a mountain lion stalking a group of deer right off the trail. I ruined the hunt when I came stumbling along, spooking the deer.
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Brian Roebuck
Site Admin
Caver
Caving - the one activity that really brings you to your knees!
Posts: 2,732
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Post by Brian Roebuck on Oct 15, 2006 21:58:16 GMT -5
Y'all Rock! I am impressed by your efforts to date and hope you find some good booty to scoop at the end of your dig. I visited the area once years ago as a tourist in Cave of the Winds. We wore our caving t-shirts etc and talked to some of the guides who mentioned other cavers were up the canyon digging stuff now and then. It made us want to go find out what they were up to! Good photos and good project. Plug and feathers are a cool use of old and very effective technology. No limestone is safe around your crew.
Keep up the good work!
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Oct 15, 2006 22:51:02 GMT -5
Wow, I'm impressed too, that is a lot of digging. I have been on digs where we've used a bucket to lift dirt and rocks from the hole, but never where a wheelbarrow is needed to haul off the debris. Hope you guys find something good after all the hard work you've put in.
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 16, 2006 7:52:47 GMT -5
In the next canyon over we discovered Narrows Cave by digging in a cliff 460 feet, at least man high, wheelbarrow wide, (often much bigger) and broke into a mile of cave with over 200 feet of relief. We just put a granite plaque in it to comemorate the late Walt Rubeck who came up with the technique, "Digging bigger is faster."
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Oct 16, 2006 14:38:58 GMT -5
Duh! I'm a dolt Jon...I just put together your avatar with your digging and the wheelbarrow. I guess everyone else had already gotten the significance of the avatar. ;D
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 16, 2006 18:03:04 GMT -5
We have all the other specialties in SoCoMoGro as well, Vertical, Rescue, Conservation, Mapping, and some notable international cavers as well, but we all get together for big digs. Have you seen The Caves of Williams Cañón yet? It is edited by Rob Kolstad and it has a lot of good info on the exploits of the Williams Cañón Project. The philosophy of digging big is that you more than make up for the addtional amount of dirt you move by the improved logistics of moving it. These include having a lower critical number of crew needed to show up, more dirt can be handled per person and for longer distances, there is more room for safety and you have a better entry when you finish. Just try to get crew to improve passage after you break through. It is a good excuse for a weekly lunch barbeque social as well! ;D
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Post by madratdan on Oct 16, 2006 20:45:35 GMT -5
Hey Jon, I will try to get you that BBQ grill by next weekend. When digging big, good warm meal brings forth a better effort and bigger crew. How did you like your steak again??? Unfortunately I am off to the western slope again.
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Oct 17, 2006 8:10:32 GMT -5
Have you seen The Caves of Williams Cañón yet? It is edited by Rob Kolstad and it has a lot of good info on the exploits of the Williams Cañón Project. I've heard of the The Caves of Williams Cañón and read excerpts from other publishings, but no, I haven't read it. For some reason, I was thinking the book was out of print now. Maybe I have the wrong book in mind.
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Post by madratdan on Oct 17, 2006 8:21:29 GMT -5
E-mail me your address, Sharon and I'll send you one. You can still buy them at grotto meetings here in Colorado, for $20.00. I'm not sure if the NSS book store is selling them. We still have a case here in the Springs.
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L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on Oct 17, 2006 13:44:07 GMT -5
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Oct 17, 2006 15:12:27 GMT -5
Thanks Dan!...email on the way.
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Nov 12, 2006 21:45:30 GMT -5
Okay guys, give it up. I've been watching this project as it continues to evolve for over a month now, where's the weekly trip report?
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Nov 13, 2006 8:43:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the update on Moby's Jon! The popcorn is impressive. Snow...
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 13, 2006 14:35:47 GMT -5
I feel like I'm writing a soap opera/serial tease. The plot only advances incrementally with sub-plots and digressions. Let's see; As the Passage Turns? Cave Mental Hospital? The Dig and the Caveless? I'd rather do All my Scooping! ;D
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Nov 13, 2006 22:24:36 GMT -5
Jon, I was thinking it was similar to watching "Lost". ;D Now that you've hooked me with the teasers, I keep tuning in to see how this cave is going to turn out.
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Nov 20, 2006 9:34:01 GMT -5
Hi Jon, Great update on Moby's! I've been pondering on this and have to ask. When you say pits, does this mean like a pit you rappel into? And if so, how the heck do you get the timbers down into the pit? Also, I couldn't tell by the map, but the pictures look as if you walk into the cave. So you all walk into the cave and is that where the dig began or did the digging begin at the bottom of the pits? I have only worked on a couple of projects where multiple digging trips were required and we were digging straight down between two seemingly stable limestone blocks. Once we got so far down it opened into a very narrow pit, which could then be rappelled. In all honesty I've never put much effort into digging due to it being too easy and convenient to go to another cave, and frankly I have too long been a product of my environment - the immediate gratification generation. Not proud of that, just a statement of fact. Thanks for the digging for dummies lesson. ;D Sharon
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 20, 2006 19:18:49 GMT -5
Out west here caves are much more rare what with aridity, alpine glaciation and just more thoroughly messed up rock. I come from a mining background and tend to use those concepts and terms in my underground thinking. You all have too many good open leads to lower your selves to much major digging. In TAG you folks have big open dolines which you rappel into and call pits. We have a very few of those out here but the context I am using pit is as, "We're digging a pit." or, "We're pitting down." (verb). I modified the post with an up-dated cross-section concept sketch where you can see the wheelbarrow level labeled. I'm waiting on a survey to attempt a plan view. You can see in the photos we hoist the rock and by hand with a fortified 5 gallon metal bucket on static line. This then gets dumped in the wheelbarrow. We have to pretty much try follow the air where it goes. Thanks for your questions. They help me relate our degro dialect (we like to think we are due more dignity now ) with those of mainstream cavers. There are those who are part "digger" who feel they have to treat it as their dirty little secret from "stalagmite-huggers." ;D Humor aside, always let me know when my posts are confusing. Going into more detail and expanding on obscure aspects may enrich them.
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Nov 21, 2006 8:40:39 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining and adding the additional images Jon. That answered my questions.
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